The present invention relates to post-mix beverage dispensers which are compact, portable and suitable for use in small offices or small volume locations. More specifically, the present invention relates to a compact post-mix beverage dispenser unit which may be disposed on a counter top in the above-mentioned environments and supplied with water from a pitcher, syrup from disposable sealed packages and CO.sub.2 for carbonation from refillable containers in a rapid and efficient manner. An accessory attachment may allow connection to a building water supply for automatic refill of the reservoir.
Heretofore, the majority of commercially-available post-mix beverage dispenser units have been designed for large volume commercial uses such as in fast food restaurants. Because of these large volume uses, design criteria have emphasized optimum cooling and dispenser speed rather than low unit cost, size and portability. Although some consideration has been given to cost, size and portability even in these large volume commercial units, the resulting unit designs are generally far too expensive, bulky and heavy for small volume use.
Some attempts have been made in the beverage dispenser industry to reduce the cost, size and weight of these units to make them available for use by the general public. However, the units designed heretofore have lacked sufficient cooling capacity, dispensing efficiency, beverage quality and reliability as a trade off to achieving the aforementioned low cost, size and portability needed for consumer acceptance.